Library delay turns out to have been unnecessary

MURRIETA —— A contract requirement that led to a dispute over
bids to build the city's new library and a decision to solicit new
bids should never have been in the contract in the first place,
city officials acknowledged Friday.

The dispute between the contractors who submitted the two lowest
bids, Jaynes Corp. of San Diego, which offered to build the library
for $8.8 million, and Temecula-based Edge Development, which bid
$8.9 million, resulted in the City Council deciding this week to
rebid the project in order to avoid a lawsuit.

Edge had challenged Jaynes' ability to do 15 percent of the work
in-house, a condition of the contract.

In fact, none of the five bidders, who were all prequalified to
build the library, met that requirement —— including Edge —— Deputy
City Manager Teri Ferro said Friday. The 15 percent requirement was
inadvertently copied from a similar contract, she said.

Project manager RDK Consultants of San Diego took an industry
standard bid and copied that for Murrieta's library project, she
said. But the city did not need that requirement; it did not make
any sense for Murrieta, Ferro said.

The library is part of the city's Town Square, a civic and
commercial center bordered by Kalmia and Juniper streets and
Jefferson and Adams avenues. Ferro said once construction begins,
the library should be complete within 13 months.

Officials say the delay over the bid error may add to the cost
of the project or force the city to make additional cuts to an
already pared-down library plan.

"The longer we drag it out, the more money it's going to cost,"
Mayor Warnie Enochs said Friday. He apologized for the delay,
saying the community needs the library to open as soon as
possible.

Library Advisory Commissioner Geraldine Skeen said Friday that
she and other library supporters are concerned the delay will cost
the city.

The contract award was delayed several times since September ——
originally because all the bids came in well over the city's $7.2
million budget, and more recently because of the contractors'
dispute.

Ferro said the new contracts, which will be ready to go out
Monday, do not contain the 15 percent requirement. The city will
open the bids Nov. 8 and the council should be able to award the
contract Nov. 15, she said.

Another commissioner, Juanita Blankenship, said Friday that
while she hoped the cost of the library would not increase,
rebidding was the only fair thing to do.

"These things happen inadvertently. I was in public service for
over 30 years. Very often you use boilerplate bids and it's easy to
miss things," Blankenship said.